In 1171 two forces arrived outside Dublin to contest its possession with the Normans, who were within. One was led by the Norse king of Dublin, Haskulf. Haskulf had gone overseas in the previous year to enlist support, and he now had with him, together with his own mendrawn from thetown and the surrounding Norse area, men also from the Scottish islands and the Isle of Man. The other force was the army of Rory O'Connor, the High King, and his adherents. Whether these two bodies were outside Dublin at the same time, whether they co-operated with one another, in opposition to the invaders, and which was first engaged with the Normans are alike matters of obscurity. The contemporary evidence seems, however, to indicate that Haskulf came up first and that he attacked the Normans and was defeated before the eflorts made by the Irish had greatly affected the position. We are told that Haskulf arrived about Whitsun, which in 1171 was in the middle of May. The Dublin of that time was a small fortified settlement on the south bank of the Liffey, the centre of which was the high ground later crowned by Dublin Castle. The town extended northward to the Liffey, westward to the site of the bridge, which was probably marked by the later Bridge Street, southward to where the river Poddle flowed below the Castle hill, and eastward to the point near the present Parliament Street where the Poddle-long since covered over and running invisibly beneath the modern city-discharges into the Liffey. Haskulf and his companions, who included a renowned warrior known as John the Wode, or Mad, came ashore below the town at the place called the Steine. This was an open space on the south bank of the Liffey in the area where Trinity College now stands, and it derived its name from a pillar stone which had been erected there, probably by the Norsemen.

We have no way of saying when Haskulf's force fell foul of the Normans, but hostilities seem to have continued between them for some time before the day when the first phase of the battle of Dublin was decided. On this occasion, as usual, we find the Normans outside the fortifications and fighting in the open against the combined force of the Dublinmen and their allies, which exceeded the Normans in numbers. The struggle took place in the vicinity of the present Dame Street, between the Steine and the east gate of the town, the gate of St Mary del dam-the mill dam at the mouth of the Poddle. Miles de Cogan, who led the Normans, was worsted, and fell back fighting to the gate. Even in this extremity, however, the aggressive Normans were unwilling to seek shelter and to fight on the defensive. While he continued the struggle at the east gate, de Cogan sent his brother Richard secretly and hurriedly through the west gate, on the other side of the town.

Richard had thirty knights. Riding hard, he fetched a circuit around what is now the centre of the south side of the city of Dublin and came down heavily and noisily on Haskulf's rear, threatening his line of retreat to his camp and his shipping and completely surprising him. The rear of the Norse force turned to face Richard. Miles sallied over the Poddle; can we doubt that-ever audacious-he flung his last man at the red, iron-rimmed shields, locked now in a hasty shield-wall ? Haskulf was caught. The archers shot gaps in his packed warriors; the heavy horsemen rode over them. John the Wode died fighting, his terrible axe that had chopped limbs at a stroke unavailing to save him. And around him died Dublin men and Islanders.

Dispirited and suddenly weary, what was left of them fled. Haskulf, taken, was later put to death. This was the end of the first phase of the fight for Dublin; the later phases culminated in a scene of rout that was far more extraordinary. During the summer Rory O'Connor, the High King, blockaded the town with large forces. He had brought up his own Connacht men and lay encamped with them at Castleknock. With him were Tiernan O'Rourke of Breifne and Meath, O'Melaghlin, also of Meath, and O'Carroll of Oriel, each with his following. Rory was aided also by MacDonlevy, King of Ulidia-that is, the present Antrim and Down-who was encamped at Clontarf, and by Murtogh, nephew of Dermot MacMurrogh, by O'Toole, and by other Leinster rulers, who were at Dalkey. The presence of Donell O'Brien, King of Thomond, seems doubtful; he is said to have been encamped at Kilmainham. Even without O'Brien, Strong bow's Opponents were very numerous.

Contemporaries place the force commanded by Rory alone at 30,000. This must be much exaggerated; but Rory and his allies represented the best of the Irish fighters, and they were well placed, north and south of the Liffey, to enforce the blockade. There seems to have been no possibility of an Irish assault. Attacking fortifications was not an Irish specialty. Rory and his allies did not take part in Haskulf's fight, and may not have come up-or may not all have come up-when it occurred. The remnants of Haskulf's force may have co-operated with them afterwards. The impression given by the meagre accounts which we have of the events of the summer is of a two months' blockade or siege during which little, if any, serious fighting occurred. Rory's seeming inactivity was not, however, without effect. In Dublin supplies ran short. Blockaded by land and sea and experiencing, as well, the momentary displeasure of King Henry II, which prevented the despatch of supplies from England, the Normans had to tighten their belts.

Laurence O'Toole, the Archbishop, who was in Dublin but apparently in touch with affairs outside, is said to have done his best to encourage their Norse and Irish opponents to intensify the blockade. In September Strongbow offered to negotiate with the High King. But Rory overestimated his own strength and tried to gain too much. He proposed peace on the condition that Strongbow and his intruders might retain Dublin, Wexford and Waterford, but no more- they could have neither Leinster, which Dermot MacMurrogh had purported to give them, nor any other part of Ireland which they might covet. It was contrary to every inclination of the Normans to accept a condition such as this, which would coop them up behind walls. They reacted in the spirit of the enterprise to which they were committed aggressively. 'What are we waiting for ?' cried Maurice FitzGerald. 'Do we expect help from our own people? No! This is how we stand: we are Englishmen to the Irish and Irishmen to the English!' They were abandoned by King Henry to fend for themselves, and if they wanted better terms than Rory offered they must fight for them.

The Normans sallied suddenly from Dublin at one o'clock on a September afternoon and attacked the High King. They went out in three divisions, the ubiquitous formation that became right, left and centre in action. Raymond le Gros led with twenty knights; Miles de Cogan followed with thirty; Strongbow and Maurice FitzGerald led the third division-the main body, or centre-of forty knights. Each had other troops as well, horsemen and archers. Probably all were mounted; some of the archers- who of course fought on foot-may have been carried on the cruppers of the horsemen. As well as these Normans, we are told that those of the Leinster Irish who had remained faithful to them, and some of the citizens, went out with them; but Strongbow's force cannot have numbered much more than 2,000 in all.

Some men must have been left behind to hold the town, and the hght with Haskulf and service during the surnmer had taken their toll of Strongbow's original strength. There is a suggestion that some of the Normans had returned to England from Dublin during the summer. The column crossed the Liffey bridge and moved north towards Finglas. Soon they turned to the left; whether they were beyond the Tolka or still south of it when they turned we do not know. Moving rapidly in the Tolka valley behind the present Phoenix Park, they came down heavily and unexpectedly on Rory's camp at Castleknock. It was their favourite tactic, and its result, as intended, was surprise. Time and place alike favoured them: the idle hour of early afternoon and the flank and rear of the invest ment. The Irish must have been totally unprepared. In this situation numbers meant little.

Raymond, Miles, Gerald and Alexander, the sons of Maurice FitzGerald-they vied with one another in the impetuosity of their attack. The details of the struggle are completely lost to us. How the Irish reacted we do not know, but we are told that there was great confusion, and there seems little doubt that the Irish casualties were very large. The High King was caught in his bath. The indignity of his situation seems heightened by every schoolboy's knowing of it; but he escaped. The slaughter of the fugitives continued until evening, by which time the Irish were routed. Here as elsewhere in these early years of the invasion the knight and the archer, hghting on their own ground, were invincible; when they could effect surprise they were invincible against any odds. The Normans came back to Dublin in the darkness of the autumn evening, laden with food and the spoils of battle and covered with glory. The other Irish armies which lay around Dublin disintegrated and the siege was soon raised. A shadowy and abortive attempt to engaged the Normans, led by Tiernan O'Rourke and mentioned by the Irish annalists, may have been made about this time. In it O'Rourke's son was killed and his men discomhted. On the other hand, O'Rourke's defeat may have preceded Rory's. Much is obscure. There is no doubt about the Norman victory, however; it was complete.

part 1

From Irish Battles - A Military History of Ireland by G.A.Hayes-McCoy. Click here for more information on the book.

Further reading: A Little History of Ireland by Martin Wallace with illustrations by Ian McCullough. Click here for more information on the book.